Strategic Management at Marks & Spencer

This report explores the strategic management practices at Marks & Spencer, including an analysis of their leadership style, evaluation of change management models, and future sustainability strategy. It discusses the background of the company, strategic tools used for analysis, and the challenges they face. The report also highlights the importance of planning and adapting to market changes, as well as the role of sustainable practices in achieving growth and maintaining customer trust.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background Information..............................................................................................................3
Strategic tools to analyze methods of development used by M&S.............................................3
Analyze and evaluate the leadership style at M&S.....................................................................5
Change management models critically examine strategy implementation at M&S....................6
What is the future sustainability strategy for M&S?...................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in London,
England, that specializes in selling clothing, home products and food products, mostly of its own
label. This report highlights information on the issues such as the background of the company
which is relatable with the case study of Saturday boy. Strategic tool help to analyze the market
of Marks & Spencer which was done with pestle analysis model. Analysis and evaluation of
leadership style of Marks & Spencer. Model of change management used by the company with
the implementation of their strategy. With these issues this report also discusses the strategy of
sustainable path and initiatives taken by Marks & Spencer (Teece, 2019).
Background Information
Marks & Spencer is termed out to be the most known brand in UK in the sector of retail
but since the last 10 years they are facing difficulty in managing their operations and that too in
which they used to lead the market that is in the line of clothing. The current situation of Marks
& Spencer is that they are still facing issues to make progress as they are still in the mode of
turnaround. In the last few years the approach of Marks & Spencer has been changed as now
they are focusing on managing their channels by digital aspects and that is why they are working
on it in a more established manner instead of focusing on making and launching of their own
stores. The business line of clothing and food sector of Marks & Spencer is been looked out by
new senior teams of management and one person looks after them that is Archie Norman who
earned his name by rescuing Asda before. The mission is the one thing through which companies
such as Marks & Spencer is able to serve the purpose of the company. The mission of Marks &
Spencer is to make quality that is aspirational and that can be accessible to everyone. The vision
of Marks & Spencer clearly defines the audience they want to target and the standard they want
to maintain. Their vision is to be the standard on the basis of which they measure them with
other players in the market. Marks & Spencer faced the difficulty when tycoon from Arcadia Sir
Philip Green made interest in bidding but Marks & Spencer took the help of their former leader
Lord Stuart Rose and helped them to manage and save off their fortunes.
Strategic tools to analyze methods of development used by M&S
During the period of pandemic Marks & Spencer saw the decline of their clothing line which
affected their dealings with their suppliers and retail store owners. This is why they are
developing their planning and strategies by making changing in their procedures.

 The company is paying for those products who have been shipped.
 In order to reduce and contract the rate and spread of virus the management of the
company has asked them to sanitize them and maintain the norms of social distancing
(Ketchen Jr and Craighead, 2020).
 Marks & Spencer has extended their terms of payment by increasing their duration from
75 days to 120 days and offering them finance and credit to reduce the amount of hassle
between them and maintain the flow of order.
The strategic tool that is used by the company is pestle analysis
Political Factors-
The decision of Brexit affected the operations of the company as it has led to increase in
their structure of cost which has reduced their sales. Due to this decision the share of the
company in the market has been reduced and it is getting difficult for them to enter into new
markets.
Economic Factors-
When all of their competitors were working with the approach of discounted pricing
Marks & Spencer was the one who worked up with the approach of providing high quality and
high level of satisfaction to them. This may decrease their sale for short period of time but in the
long term they were able to notice growth.
Social Factors-
In order to cope up with this factor Marks & Spencer has to focus on change and
introduce their designs as per the shift of the market. This is done so that they can have a grasp
on youth as their target audience (Durand, Grant and Madsen, 2017).
Technological Factors-
The strategy of Marks & Spencer has helped them to attain many benefits in the markets
such as they have become easily popular on social media platforms. In order to improve the
experience for their customers they have taken the help of online methods as customers can order
from anywhere at anytime which makes it very flexible for them.

Environmental Factors-
The rules and norms for environmental practices has gotten long which has forced
companies such as Marks & Spencer to observe their life cycle from beginning to end. The more
they are transparent about this more they will be accepted in the market and the Plan A launched
by the company is helping them doing that.
Legal Factors-
Marks & Spencer have to cope up with the factors that are concerned with rights of
consumers, regulations for safety and other initiatives so that they are allowed to serve legally in
the country. They started the system of behind the barcode which scans their product and this
raised their standard (Trigeorgis and Reuer, 2017).
Analyze and evaluate the leadership style at M&S
The Saturday boy which is Steve Rowe used to be a store boy in the store of Marks &
Spencer. Now he has been appointed as a CEO of the company but important point is that as per
the current conditions of the market the company has not been able to make progress even the
initiatives taken by them did not helped them. Also the board of members are not satisfied which
is why they are keen on new approaches which are awaited from the CEO. The leadership style
of Archie Norman as well as Steve Rowe is transformational style of leadership which is
effective up to the right claim of the opportunity. Archie Norman is more successful because of
planning and making the move at the right time. Both the leaders helped Marks & Spencer to
improve their methods and procedures as per the needs and wants of the market. They always
motivated their employees so that they keep on coming up with new methods through which
company is able to maintain the level of satisfaction for their customers. This way they are able
to attain their signed up growth. One issue with both the leaders using this style and affecting its
importance was they were forcing them to work on the vision of the company instead of coming
up with their own approach. The importance of this factor is that this form of leadership helps
them to change their methods when the patterns of customers and their needs are changing. With
the help of enabling better initiatives and culture they will be able to make this method more
effective and help the company achieve growth (Hitt and Duane Ireland, 2017).

Change management models critically examine strategy implementation at M&S
The model of Change Kaleidoscope will be helpful for the company in order to cope up
with the changes that are happening in the market. Also with the help of this aspect Marks &
Spencer will be able to assess the form of leadership that will be helpful to them in order to carry
out their activities in an effective manner. The Saturday boy has not been able to successfully
bring change in the company due to the conditions of the market but with proper evaluation of
market and planning they can surely do it. For Marks & Spencer effective change management
model will be the 7-S by McKinsey (Siegel and Leih, 2018).
Strategy-
This aspect states that Marks & Spencer must complete their analysis and planning step
by step so that no aspect of market is missed out and they are prepared for the future changes of
the market.
Structure-
This aspect states that company must divide their structure on the basis of mission and
vision so that they can establish their base in the market without any discrepancies. It is because
of their structure Marks & Spencer has been able to adapt change easily.
Systems-
This aspect will help the company to keep up to date systems that help them to perform
day to day tasks efficiently so that they can prepare for change and cope up with the level of
advancement.
Shared Values-
This aspect is concerned with the values that sets their principle on the basis of they
maintain their discipline and code of conduct.
Style-
This aspect will determine in which way Marks & Spencer will adopt the change that is
why it is referred as style (Schilling and Shankar, 2019).

Staff-
This aspect is concerned with the acceptance of employees and workforce for change as
the company has to assess their capabilities and strength as per change.
Skills-
This aspect will help Marks & Spencer to evaluate the skills and abilities of their
employees and compare them with their competitors so that they can gain edge over their
competitors.
What is the future sustainability strategy for M&S?
Marks & Spencer is a renowned company in the market and that puts them under
pressure to cope up with the sustainable needs of market and keep up with approaches that helps
them to prevent the environment. This is why they are going to continue with Plan A till 2025
which they introduced in 2007. This was launched so that company can work with those
measures in their processes that help them to protect the forces of environment. To do that they
made changes in their procedures they started using materials that are eco friendly or recycled so
that the products launched by them do not cause harm the environment. With this they enabled
ethical changes in culture which enforced their manpower to never use anything wrong that
affects their reputation or which makes them feel cheated. If this happens they won’t be able to
retain their base of customers and achieve growth as customers will lose trust over them. Marks
& Spencer have announced that by 2022 they will change the system of packaging by using
recycle form of material. Other than this they are increasing their attention on healthier food
products as nowadays people are more concerned for their health. Also they believe that with this
strategy they will be able to reduce the amount of waste as they will keep the channel of
production on the basis of that (Demir, Wennberg and McKelvie, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above studies it has been concluded that Marks & Spencer need to focus on
planning and work towards changes that are happening in the market so that they can achieve
growth and retain their old position. It is important that they focus on their strategy to assess the
needs of the market. Leadership style of the company has been helpful because of that they have

been able to cope up with change easily. Also with the company working with sustainable forces
again they have a high chance that they will be able to gain edge over their competitors. It is
important that they bring change in the company as per the change management plan so that
everything they implement is up to date. With the help of pestle analysis they will be able to
evaluate changes in the market which they need to be prepared for.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Durand, R., Grant, R.M. and Madsen, T.L., 2017. The expanding domain of strategic
management research and the quest for integration. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1),
pp.4-16.
Hitt, M. and Duane Ireland, R., 2017. The intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic
management research. The Blackwell handbook of entrepreneurship, pp.45-63.
Ketchen Jr, D.J. and Craighead, C.W., 2020. Research at the intersection of entrepreneurship,
supply chain management, and strategic management: Opportunities highlighted by
COVID-19. Journal of Management, 46(8), pp.1330-1341.
Teece, D.J., 2019. A capability theory of the firm: an economics and (strategic) management
perspective. New Zealand Economic Papers, 53(1), pp.1-43.
Trigeorgis, L. and Reuer, J.J., 2017. Real options theory in strategic management. Strategic
Management Journal, 38(1), pp.42-63.
Demir, R., Wennberg, K. and McKelvie, A., 2017. The strategic management of high-growth
firms: A review and theoretical conceptualization. Long Range Planning, 50(4), pp.431-
456.
Schilling, M.A. and Shankar, R., 2019. Strategic management of technological innovation.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Siegel, D.S. and Leih, S., 2018. Strategic management theory and universities: An overview of
the Special Issue. Strategic Organization, 16(1), pp.6-11.